On the Truth's side of the Gate
by MrLegionNation
Summary: Ed and Co have defeater Father and his Homunculi in Central. Hohenheim sacrificed himself to bring Al back from the Truth. This event changed Ed forever, driving him to research alchemy that would bring him closer to the truth. When one of his experiments goes wrong, the Truth punishes Ed, sending him to a world inhabited by Giant Monsters, with Humanity on the brink of Extinction.
1. Ed's Grave Error

Ed was used to the sight of the Truth now, his shadowy form framed against the veil of nothingness that is his realm. Ed rose from the invisible ground to face this shadowy creature once again.

'You know Edward, I'm getting really sick of you showing your face around here. Each time that gate opens I hope it's someone new… But no! You have to keep trying to work the secrets of the universe out of me!' Snapped the Truth, exasperated at Ed's latest attempt to learn whatever he knew. 'I would curse you with all of God's fury, but that would be pointless, given my position and all. Anyway, at least this time you're in way over your head Elric.'

Ed glared at the Truth. Ever since Hohenheim sacrificed himself to bring back Al; after that mess in Central, Ed had been fascinated by the physical nature of the Truth and how he was able to do the things he did. In his efforts to understand this being, he had conducted hundreds of Human Transmutations (on himself) and created thousands of philosopher's stones (out of terminally ill volunteers), alongside anything else Ed thought crazy enough to open the Gate and get him to see the Truth.  
'Over my head? I didn't do anything too out of the ordinary. I was trying to rip apart the subatomic structures of a wreck from that mess; still standing in Central.' Ed snapped. 'It was only a few metres high…'

The Truth burst out laughing, his shiny teeth glistening eerily against the shadow of his form and the nothingness of his surroundings. 'You failed to realise that the "wreck" you refer to was part of a large research lab for the old Amestrian government. So instead of a few square metres of metal and concrete, you were transmuting exactly 350 square metres of Steel, Concrete, various rare metals and a great deal of copper. You fucked-up Edward Elric, now you're going to pay for it.'

Ed couldn't believe what he was hearing. He'd massively underestimated the scope of the task he was undertaking, he thought he had taken every precaution necessary to prevent this sort of thing from happening. Going so far as to draw the transmutation circle himself and performing it manually, without using the philosopher's stone inside him.

Ed ran through some rough figures in his head. Assuming this larger structure was made of the same materials as its' above ground counterpart and in roughly the same proportions, it would be approximately 70% Carbon (though this "great deal" of copper threw Ed's math off substantially) considering that the element is found in steel; common stones and the ingredients used to make concrete meaning that there would have been roughly 800,000 kilos of Carbon based materials in that pit.  
The next question that had to be asked was, how did that underground lab get involved in his transmutation? The circle was drawn around only the protruding structure of the lab that Ed wanted to work on. The runes that he had used perfectly complimented the materials he intended to transmute. Even the runes of his own design for breaking down atoms into _their_ base parts were well suited to the elements Ed planned on transmuting. Not to mention the molecules those elements had formed requiring restriction runes to control all of it.

'FUCK!' Ed roared. 'I forgot the runes of restriction for direction and compound molecules. So even… Shit how could I do something so stupid as to forget them. Well, Truth, what do I owe you? What are you taking from me now?'

The Truth smiled, a disturbing; eyeless but genuine smile. 'That's the question isn't it. What do you owe me? Considering that you were basically transmuting the supporting structure of a whole city block and underground underground lab to-boot. If I didn't step-in when I did, you could have flattened all of Central… or worse.'

"Or worse". Ed feared those words more than the toll he'd have to pay for his mistake because "or worse" could mean any number of things, even Rush Valley, where Winry was still running her Automail business.

'Then I guess I thank you for doing so.' Ed growled. 'How much do I owe you? How much of my research into you is taken back?'  
Ed heard a deafening clunking sound from behind him. He turned to see his gate of Truth opening, he saw the blackness, he saw the hands ready to grab him, but they didn't come. They were poised, ready to do their work, yet they just waited.

'We can play this only one way Elric. Because of the gravity of what you have done, you owe me everything. All those 7000 philosopher's stones inside you, you're body and your very own soul-' Ed was shocked to his very core. Had his first large scale experiment into subatomic alchemy really caused that much damage? '-but this is not enough, for if I took all of your life now I would not have the energy needed to contain this disaster, so you need to continue to live... but not in Amestris. I will send you elsewhere. To a place where I can make use of your energy and fix this shit show.' The Truth proclaimed distastefully. 'I know it isn't my usual style to do this, but I need you to suffer for what you have done and learn from it. The same as the first time.' The Truth said, mournfully. 'You really are a prodigy and now I'm going to make you pay for it. Goodbye Edward Elric, I hope we don't meet again. Then again, if we do, I hope it's not because you're being as reckless and arrogant as you are now. Enjoy your new world, it'll be your home for a while.'

Ed was still trying to get his head around the first part of Truth's small monologue, when he was grabbed by those small black hands and dragged back through the Gate. Ed was used to the feeling of being transmuted, he'd been through it dozens of times at least, but this time was different. Instead of feeling like he was being pulled apart, he felt like he was being shoved through a pipe too small for his body. This feeling went on for what felt like several minutes, before he lost consciousness and the chaos of being transmuted faded to nothing.

Ed woke, feeling groggy, his vision was blurry and he couldn't feel his one organic leg. He took a moment to gain his bearings and started to take note of where he was. He was in a forest. 'We're off to bad start' he thought. He was in a tree, again, not great. That tree must be around 40 metres tall. 'Fan-fucking-tastic' thought Ed to himself. He then went through the basics of his personal condition, his automail leg was still attached to his body and responding to his commands, his normal leg was also still attached, it was just numb because he was lying in an awkward position. As for his everything else, Ed noted that he was no worse-for-wear, so he could focus on getting down from this tree. He clapped his hands and slapped the tree, there was a flash of brilliant blue light, followed by the tree shifting its' form until a perfect ladder was formed right next to the branch Ed found himself on.

Ed began absentmindedly climbing down, trying remember what the Truth had said to him. He immediately thought of the "or worse" part of his speech, when 'it' came to the front of his mind. What did the Truth mean when he said "new world"? Did he move Ed to another part of his own world, surely that must be it, as he could not go anywhere else.

Ed puzzled over this question for the first 10 metres of his descent of the tree. He'd thought about the possibility of other inhabited worlds existing in the universe but he never thought it would be possible to reach them, so dismissed the idea. Just as was starting to put together a way back home in his head, he saw it: big, humanoid and hideous. About twenty metres below him and reaching up with a gargantuan hand, a monster about 15 metres tall with a wicked smile and large unfeeling black eyes. Ed paused, frozen with fear.

'What the hell is this? What the hell are you?' Ed was already putting theories together in his head. 'Are you a new breed of homunculus? No you can't be, you don't have the tattoo. You must be something else; but what?'

The monster was unable to reach Ed, but it wasn't out of options. It slammed its' hand into the tree with great force, knocking Ed from his tree-ladder, sending him plummeting into the beast's gaping Jaws.

..._..._..._..._..._..._..._..._..._..._..._..._..._...-...-..._..._..._..._..._...-..._..._..._..._..._..._..._..._

A/N So this is take two for this story. As last time the document was showing all the format coding, surrounding the text, making it impossible to read. So, thank you to the person who brought that to my attention! I'll take more care in future in prevent it from happening again.

P.S. Please do enjoy this story and don't expect frequent updates (sorry, I am a busy and lazy shit)


	2. Forest of Monsters

Ed saw the Giant's mouth coming closer and closer, although he knew he couldn't die that easily, Ed sprung into action. He clapped his hands together and slammed them into the Monster's upper lip and taking a leaf out Scar's book, blew the Monster's head clean off, by deconstructing the materials that made it up. The force of the impact however, shattered Ed's wrists, forcing him to use his internal philosopher's stone to heal himself in time to brace for the remainder of his fall, all 15 metres of it.

Ed hit the ground with a botched shoulder roll, breaking his right leg. His philosopher's stone healed that injury quickly, which allowed him to scramble to his feet to inspect the corpse of the Monster.

Excluding the obvious size difference, this thing; whatever it was, looked very much like a Human being. 'Two arms and two legs a torso and a head' Ed mused to himself. 'What are you?' Suddenly large volumes of steam began to plume from the stump where the creature's head had been and the headless body began to push itself into an upright position.

Ed panicked, he knew of no higher order animal that could live and function without a head. Even the homunculi had to wait for any damage done to their head to heal before they could move again. However this beast was using all its' might to get back on its' feet again and it was succeeding.

Ed, full of fear, decided that he didn't want to stick around to fight that thing one-on-one and ran as fast as he could away from it, faster than he thought possible. Feeling like he might be able to escape the Monster, Ed looked over his shoulder to see what it was doing; or if it had given-up.

The Giant was on all fours, clambering to its' feet, with its' huge dead eyes focused on Ed and a terrifying muscular smile faintly visible through the clouds of steam still pouring from its' neck wound. As the Monster found its' footing, it lunged forward; throwing its' hands out to the sides and began to bolt rapidly across the forest floor, easily covering the distance Ed had put between them.

'No, no, no, no! I don't want to deal with this shit!' Ed muttered fearfully to the world. 'I don't want to use all my stones fighting some 15 metre tall Death Monster!'

Despite not knowing the terrain and not having seriously exerted himself in some time, Ed skillfully dodged between and through the trees, using his superior agility and alchemy to his advantage; keeping himself out of the Monster's reach.

He knew he couldn't keep this up forever though, as the sweat that poured from his body made his hair stick to his face, neck and back as if it were a strong glue. Ed had to make a choice and quickly as he could see that the vegetation was starting to thin and when that happened, he knew he'd be a little done for.

Ed reasoned that if he could destroy the Beast's legs to the knees, at least, then drop it in a large pit, he might just not have to put-up with it any more. With this skeleton of a plan, Ed changed direction and ran diagonally towards the Giant. The Monster did not seemed confused or agitated by Ed's sudden change in behaviour but started to reach out a gargantuan hand in an attempt to grab him.

This, thought Ed, was the perfect time to strike. He pivoted towards the Beast, slapped his hands together and ran right for his oversized pursuer. The Beast's hand was a mere arm's reach from Ed, so he crashed into it and blew it off with Alchemy. Deftly, Ed dodged around the Monster's now stumpy arm and ran straight for its' legs, ripping them both off with a blast of Alchemic energy from his philosopher's stone. Up until that moment, Ed had forgot about gravity; but all that came back to him the moment he saw the lumbering Beast's body topple out of the sky. Ed quickly used his Alchemy to jump out of the way of the falling meat sack, then then drop it into a pit roughly 15 metres deep.

The pit was billowing steam at an alarming rate, but the fact he was out of the Beast's reach was of great comfort to Ed. Feeling greatly relieved, Ed leant against the trunk of a nearby tree and slid to ground, panting after all of the effort he went through to capture that Beast.

Ed, exhausted from the chase, was slowly drifting off to sleep when the ground started to shake beneath him and distant stomping of feet could be heard; closing in on where Ed was sitting. Fear built inside Ed, however he kept his eyes closed, despite the stomping and rumbling getting more and more intense; however after what happened to Ed in the last hours, all he wanted was to slow down and find out where he was and what was happening to him.

Taking a deep breath, Ed accepted that he didn't have time to pout and ponder, he needed to find people; civilization; someone to tell him what the hell was going on. Clambering to his feet, Ed began to bolting towards the opening in the trees he saw while escaping the first Beast. This, however, was too little too late as three more Beasts of varying height all emerged from the trees, there were two in front; that Ed could see and one behind; he assumed because he could hear an awfully loud humming sound; that was too human to be anything else.

The two beasts in front of him were both smiling hideously and stood about 10 metres in height, the Beast behind him; Ed had no idea about but then again, it isn't like he want to meet these things in the first place. Starting to feel panic grip him, Ed attacked the two oncoming Monsters with a wall of stone spikes, formed from the ground beneath their terrifying lumbering forms.

Having literally pinned the oncoming beasts to the floor, Ed turned to face his pursuer, clumsily spinning around; tripping over his feet. Ed created another wall of spikes, however he directed them at the chest of the Beast, hoping to kill it. The spikes rushed out of the ground, one after the other, each one growing larger and larger than the one before, until the Beast could no longer advance, for the hole ripped through its' chest.

Ed watched for moment fascinated by how little blood or viscera was coming out of the wound. Sure it was sealed by a giant stone spike, but Ed had seen people (himself included) bleed more than what this Beast did, with comparatively similar wounds.

'Even the homunculi bled buckets after some pretty pathetic wounds', Ed thought out-loud. 'When I first fought Greed, he bled a great deal after some comparatively small wounds even though it turned to dust when was out of him for too long…'

Something within Ed clicked, he realised what the steam was. It was the same as the transmutation reaction for the homunculi when they healed themselves, the steam was visible signs of energy being given off as accelerated healing took place. Ed focused on all three Beast's stab wounds in turn and sure enough, all of them were giving off copious amounts of steam and his stone spikes would surely give way under the continued pressure.

'I have to give these things a quick once over before I go, don't want them following me after all.' Ed was about to sure up his snare traps, when the ground began to shake, very much like earthquake was starting-up. Scanning the forest, Ed could see the trees shuddering and swaying with great force as dozens of Beast emerged from the trees all around him. Ed froze in sheer terror, there was no way for him to know that there were so many of these Beasts lying in wait, looking for a small; blonde meal. These Beasts were of varying height and shape, some were about four metres tall, some were far taller; as much as fifteen or more metres tall, but all of them had dead, lifeless eyes and huge muscular smiles and every single one of them was either running or marching right towards Ed...


	3. The Blonde Stranger

It was to be Levi's first time beyond the wall since Commander Erwin Smith dragged his ass into the Survey Corps. He was scared as hell but doing humanity a service beyond the walls was far better than what he'd be doing otherwise, committing crimes of all sorts; using ODM gear to smuggle illegal goods and gods knows whatever else.

Sitting on horseback was not so intimidating anymore either. The beast that Levi was mounted on had gained an understanding of her new master and Levi, a respect for his mount. However, what now intimidated Levi was the insane amount of goggling eyes and whispering voices, as the Survey Corps prepared to leave Shiganshina for the outside.

Whispers of 'they all look so handsome' and 'look at what our taxes are going towards' or 'you gotta be tough as nails to ride with them' alongside 'I wonder how many of them will come back this time?' Levi didn't know how to feel, opinions of the Survey Corps were as varied as the amount of people residing behind the walls of Humanity's last sanctum. Levi gripped the reins of his horse more tightly and waited for his orders.

Looking up at the wall helped. If he couldn't see the people looking at him, Levi hoped that they would all just go away. It also filled him with mixed feelings about what he was about to do and what he had done. After all, he'd spent a great deal of his life stealing from those who lived behind these 50 metre tall monoliths and now he was doing them a service. 'I wonder how people would react if they knew what I was before this?' Levi thought, though he was shaken from his musings when he saw the large gate of Wall Maria opening, revealing the expansive green wildlands that the Titans had stolen from Humanity.

After hours of riding and dodging Titans, the Survey Corps had its' destination in sight, a forest full of large trees; some almost as tall as Wall Maria. Although they were still awhile off from it, the forest looked like a beautiful place to live (if you were an animal) and it would be a great shame to turn it into a lumber farm, as that was what the Survey was going to assess the viability of. Levi gazed at the wide array of trees and other plants that he could make-out, he was taken by their beauty and simplicity. Levi let out an audible gasp as he took in the sight.

Suddenly, for no apparent reason; a tree some depth into the forest collapsed, sending birds flying off into the sky with terror. Levi, all by himself as part of the relay teams, was about to signal the possible danger with a flare, when another member of the relay teams rode up to him and started to speak.

'The commander wants all teams to know that we are going into the forest to find out what knocked down that tree, the original mission is suspended.' The relay officer yelled over the thundering of the horses. 'The commander wants all troops to be aware of the situation.'

'Does the Commander have any idea what we're running into?' Levi yelled back, getting a frustrated look from the officer. 'Forget I asked.'

Levi urged his horse to go faster, so he could catch up with the forward scouts and pass on the Commander's orders. His horse, like all of those in the Scout corps; was an absolute powerhouse, she had been galloping non-stop since they had left Shiganshina and she still had energy enough to keep on going (and faster than before at that).

Levi was just coming into range of the first of the forward scouts, when more trees start falling in the forest; with great irregularity. Two or three trees would fall in a group, then there would be a small pause, followed by another tree or three. The trees were collapsing closer and closer to the forest edge, with each passing second. It was as if, Levi thought, something or someone was running away from the Titans. Levi pushed that thought from his mind, as the idea of anything the Titans considered food surviving out here, was just ridiculous; to say the least. None-the-less, he pushed towards the forward scouts to pass on the message.

'The commander wants us to do what? I don't want to go near anything that can knock down a tree like that!' Yelled a forward scout upon hearing the orders from the Commander.

'I don't like it either' Levi called back. 'But what he says goes.'

The officer made a rude hand gesture at nothing or no-one in particular and ordered his men to head for the no-longer tranquil forest and ordered Levi to get back into position. He responded by slowing his horse and steering it back to his original position in the Scouting Formation. Levi could hear his horse's panting and whimpering as he brought her down to a more manageable pace, something she seemed to appreciate, as she seemed to actively try to not be too rough as she ran towards the forest.

Even though the forest was in full view by the time Levi finished his rounds; as he was ordered to find any squads that had missed the change in plan, it still took roughly an hour to reach the damn place. The sun was hot and unforgiving; from its' place high in the sky, causing Levi and his mount both to suffer from fatigue from the heat and stresses of riding.

It took a further hour for the whole of the Recon Corps' to reach the forest and when they did. What Levi saw shocked him the very centre of his being. There in front of him, in a small forest clearing stood a reasonable tall; muscular looking man, with a long red coat and long blonde hair; tied back in braid. He was standing close to three Titans, two were pinned to the floor, by what looked like gigantic stone spikes and the third, though still standing, was glued to the spot by an impossibly large lance of stone, that was protruding from the ground. Focusing his attention back on the blonde man, Levi froze in utter terror, as charging him was some thirty or more Titans.

Levi knew that the Scouts were the best soldiers humanity had; but he also knew that no one had ever seen this many titans in one place, trying to kill one one man. This was new for everyone, even Commander Smith, as he; like all the Scouts sat on their mounts, struck to silence with awe and fear.

Commander Smith was about to start yelling, either at the Blonde man or at the Scouts, Levi didn't know, but he never got the chance. The Blonde man let out a gut wrenching roar and started to run at the Titans. Several Scouts started to yell and cry out in dismay, telling him to run towards us instead. However, this mystery man obviously couldn't hear them and clapped his hands together and ran head long into the trees, Levi watched as this man got within 5 metres of three Titans; around 15 metres tall. Levi and the other scouts watched in horror as a Titan reached out for the red-jacketed man, with its' hideous; grinning face and eyes fixated on its' new meal, however, the Blonde Man deftly dodged the Titan's grasp and slammed his hands into the ground.

There was a spectacular, almost blinding flash of blue lightning radiating out from where the Man stood, this lightning grew in size and intensity, the Man's screaming also got louder and louder. Soon, the ground began to crack and deform, with pillars, spikes and fissures all appearing around this strange; new man. The three Titans closest to this man and several others nearby, were all thrown back with tremendous force, falling on their backs; each being impaled, crushed or both by the explosion of stone from beneath the earth.

This miraculous display of power brought Commander Erwin back to his senses and he began barking orders to the members of the Scout Regiment. 'I don't know who or what this man is but he's in real danger!' He roared, bringing his men to their senses. 'I want everyone to form up and get ready to bail him out of there. Don't try to get a kill if it isn't necessary. Just save that Man!'

The soldiers that had formed the advanced part of the scouting party had already leapt into action, the launching of grappling cables and scraping of sword blades against scabbards signified their leaping into action. In the blink of an eye over three dozen of the Scout Regiment's finest were hurling through the air, towards the onslaught of Titans. Their skill with swords and the ODM gear showed as the closed the range with the hulking Monsters.

The soldiers reached the Titans in seconds and were immediately carving them up with dual blades. It was the most incredible display of skill that Levi had ever seen, sure he had to undergo the same training as the rest of the Scout Regiment troops but to actually see them in action was something else.

'Ackerman!' Commander Smith's shouting bringing Levi to his senses. 'This isn't the time to be starstruck. Get in there and grab that man!'

Levi awkwardly saluted the Commander and launched his grappling cables into a nearby tree. As Levi hurtled towards the Titans, he realised that he was terrified of these oversized human monsters. He wanted to be anywhere but near them, and even less to be fighting them. This fear became all too real as he approached his first Titan, a fifteen metre behemoth that was already engaged by a Sergeant John Hemming, the man who had been Levi's guide around the Scout Regiment's HQ when he was drafted.

Sergeant Hemming was circling the Titan with great skill as he looked for an opening to strike at the Titan's weak point. As Levi flew closer, Sergeant Hemming dropped down below the Titan's eyeline, giving Levi full view of the Titan's horrifying face. It's muscular; lipless grin and dead eyes chilled Levi to the very core of his being.

Levi heard shouting below him, telling him to distract the Titan. That, Levi could do, as it was just controlled running away, just like his days as a criminal, out running the Military he now fought alongside. Levi ducked and rolled, instantly changing direction, causing the Titan to fix his dead gaze on Levi and reach towards him. Levi threw in some complex evasive maneuvers he once employed to dodge musket fire, hoping that they would serve him well here.

As the Titan's hand reached close enough to Levi, that he could see the contours of the skin, the TItan roared and stumbled forward. Levi coursed around the back of the Titan, to see it fall with Sergeant Hemming attached to the back of it, ripping his blades out of the back of its' spine.

'Kill it, Levi! Now!' roared Sergeant Hemming. 'Then get than man and carry him out to carriages.'

Levi reacted on the Sergeant's orders, maneuvering himself to be parallel to the Titan's now prone body, launching his cables to just below the weak spot on the nape of the neck. The grappling hooks impacted the Titan's flesh with a dull thud and stuck fast, the cables reeling Levi to the kill zone at lightning speed, the Titan's pale skin getting closer and closer with each rapidly passing second.

Raising his blades into striking position, Levi detached his cables and redirected them into a nearby tree; so that he wouldn't hit the Titan and kill himself on it. Now, with the Titan in arm's reach, Levi struck with both blades, tearing a solid chunk of flesh out of the Beast's weak spot. Levi looked back at his first ever kill, in time to see it reach for the sky; as if looking for forgiveness from some kind of God; before it's hand smashed into the ground. Levi wondered for a moment if that Thing really was praying to a higher power

' _No! It's not possible.'_ Levi thought ' _Titan's are just mindless beasts that eat Humans for pleasure! There's nothing more to them than that!'_

Sergeant Hemming made a positive hand gesture at Levi before pointing out the Blonde man, shouting orders to grab him and take him to safety. Levi returned his focus on the mysterious stranger.

He was still using his mysterious lighting magic to destroy the environment around him, creating impossibly huge spikes and fissures out of the ground; if a Titan got too close the Stranger was also able disintegrate the Titan's limb, rendering it useless. Levi noticed how aptly he was dodging the Titan's, only an experienced fighter could move like the Stranger did. Although Levi noticed that the Blonde man was decidedly lopsided, as if his left leg was weighing him down.

Levi threw himself into the fray, flying past trees Titan's and his own comrades towards his target, landing next to him and stumbling into peripheral vision. The Blonde man wheeled around, as if expecting Levi to try to kill him.

'Who the hell are you?' he yelled over the chaos. Causing another wall of spikes to appear, impaling a 4 metre Titan before it could devour an already engaged Scout.

Levi wasn't in the mood to deal with attitude. 'Who cares, who I am? My comrades are fighting and probably dying to keep you alive. So turn around and keep running until you reach the carriages!'

The Blonde Man looked insulted at the idea of running from a fight, but as he surveyed the forest-turned-battleground, his expression changed dramatically. He stood in awe for the briefest of seconds as he watched a Scout fly gracefully through the air, right towards a Titan. Then he stood in horror, as that very same Scout was bitten clean in two by his intended kill.

The Blonde man opened his arms out wide - Levi sensed he had a flair for the dramatic - before he clapped his hands together, resulting blue lightning to emanate from his body.

'You better get your men out of here!' he roared 'Things are about to get messy!'

The Blonde Man slammed his hands into the ground again, causing the lighting to rip through the topsoil, to beneath the Titan's feet. The lightning started to pull up a large stone wall from the earth, as the colossal structure rose; the Titans were knocked backwards off their feet and the Scouts panicked, pulling back to a safe distance; where they could watch the wall rise like magic of the gods.

The wall was about four metres high, when the Blonde Man stopped creating the wall and fell to his knees. His whole body was drenched in sweat, his breathing was heavy and blood started to trickle out of his nose. Levi moved to catch him, before he hit his head, his muscular frame every bit as heavy and dense as he looked. Before Levi could get a proper hold of him, to carry, the Stranger started to whisper. It was gibberish at first, but as he came to his senses, Levi could here.

'I'm done, could you cover for me? Finish the wall?' He must have been totally delirious. Levi opened his mouth to explain that there was no way he could do that, when something that he could only describe as miraculous happened.

Crimson lightning started to crackle on the Stranger's skin, growing from a small spark to an arcing lightning bolt in an instant. The bolt arched down to the ground and raced to the partially built wall, covering it in the same red lighting, before shooting it up; to a height of twenty metres and a length of just over twenty-five metres. Levi, like all the other Scouts was dumbfounded, none of them knew what to make of these events. All Levi knew was that he had just seen real magic and he had no idea how to explain that to Commander Smith.

 **Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait, you guys deserve to know why, this took so long. Basically, Uni has started back up again and my family is also going haywire, so writing has been put on the backburner. However, I would like some feedback on how I closed this chapter, was the battle scene well done? I'm not totally sure on it. Thank you for your patience.**


	4. Breach and Clear(ed of humans)

**Chapter 4**

Edward woke with a start, forced awake by the nightmare of that traumatic day, five years ago. He could still remember, clear as day: the meeting with The Truth, waking up in the forest, fighting the Giant Beasts; or Titans; he was told, and he can still remember waking up in that uncomfortable cart; traveling to the "last home of humanity".

What Ed could hardly remember though, was his life before all that. He could remember faces, names and general facts. Specifics were something else though, obvious things like knowing who Alphonse Elric was, was easy; the clue is in the name, but Winry Rockbell? Colonel Mustang? Obviously he knew them, but how he knew them and who they were to him was a mystery, as his memory of his life before arriving here had rapidly disintegrated, leaving only tiny fragments, that bore no relation to any other fragment of memory.

Ed shook the memories from his head, causing his blonde hair to fall out of the bun he'd tied it in the night before. As he braided his hair, Ed planned out his day. He had to present his findings to the Royal Government's Agriculture Department that evening, but apart from that, the day was his.

' _Great, once I get my notes sorted and packed, I'll go to Shiganshina and have lunch at Roger's'_

Once Ed was brought within the walls that protected humanity from the Titans, Commander Erwin Smith of the Scout Regiment, was given the arduous task of bringing him up to speed on this strange new world. What Ed learnt was terrifying, but it was his reality and he had to accept it. However, the Royal Government and Military police weren't so accepting of Ed and his alchemy, when they were introduced.

The Government and Military Police were on the verge of declaring Ed a monster and having him executed, when that short guy - Levi? Ed couldn't remember, it had been so long - flipped out and nearly beat the MP's commander to death (Commander Smith caught him and stopped him though), causing the fastest political backtrack that Ed could have imagined.

With the Scout Regiment's (particularly Levi's) help, the Royal Government had allowed Ed to live within the boundaries of wall Rose, provided he used his Alchemy to help the farmers increase their crop yields. Given that Ed knew nothing of farming or agriculture, he had to learn everything from scratch, spending days, weeks and months; learning about the growing and harvesting of all sorts of crops, storing them and how soil can be treated in order to make it suitable for farming.

All of this knowledge had kept Ed alive since he arrived; in the year 840. Though, he wasn't sure if what he had discovered would keep him that way, as the Agriculture Department gave him a vague goal, with no specific direction and relatively short time of five years (until 845), then told him they'd kill him if he failed, not that he was too worried; as he still had his philosophers' stone. Still, Ed had worked on using alchemy for improving soil quality, irrigation, crop growth and harvest. His five years of work had given him dozens of rudimentary theories, that could be expanded and applied to any farm within the walls, and one of them was sure keep the MP's off his back.

As Ed dragged himself out of bed, he glanced around the dingy office that served as Ed's home and lab. It was a simple room, once vibrant and welcoming, was now scorched and burned as a result of Ed's failed experiments in soil quality and crop growth. If Ed believed the stories, he'd lowered property value in the local area as a direct result of the explosions and smells coming from his laboratory-home.

Collecting his notes and diagrams from his various desks, Ed used Alchemy to staple the relevant notes together; making sure they were ordered correctly, before shoving them in a simple shoulder bag made of brown leather. Once Ed was sure he'd gathered everything he'd need for his meeting with the Agriculture Department, he set about making himself breakfast; which was looking to be a simple affair of 'whatever-I-can-find delight'. It took some searching but eventually, at the back of the cold-box, Ed found a bread roll and the last of his strawberry jam.

' _It'll have to do. Shiganshina is the better part of three hours away… if the ferries are running to time_ ' Ed thought, indifferently.

Spreading the jam on his bread, Ed walked to the door of his home; placing the now empty jam jar on a shelf near the door. Making a mental note to throw the jar out when he got home. Exiting his home, Ed weaved through the wheat and barley that he was growing in an ad-hoc fashion in his front garden and immediately beelined towards the ferry docks near the centre of Wall Rose's vast cities.

Ed managed to make through the streets without anyone harassing him, which was not totally unusual. Most people that lived in the cities behind Wall Rose thought of Ed as mad-man, they steered clear of him and some people locked up their houses when he passed by. None of this bothered Ed particularly, as he could understand their fear of him… to a point, but he let it slide as he didn't want much to do with them anyway. These people all seemed arrogant and up-themselves, not like those in the Interior; behind wall Sina, but it still didn't sit well with Ed, as it reminded him of something that unsettled him, though he wasn't sure what.

On his way to the docks Ed also noticed that the street preachers, notorious for banging on about how the Walls were "bastions of faith", were quieting down as he passed.

' _Looks like they haven't forgotten my blow out when I first moved here. I really did go overboard on that guy_ '. Ed mused, remembering how he ruthlessly fought a well-built Preacher who got in his way, breaking his arm and three of his ribs. Ed healed him with alchemy and appologised, but the damage to his reputation was done, behind wall Rose at least. The people of Wall Maria were far nicer to Ed, so he went there as often as possible.

Ed hurried towards the centre of town, towards the river where all the ferries and boats would gather, before heading on their various trips throughout the cities. A few friendly merchants and stall owners waved to Ed, as they knew of the work that he was doing for the Royal Government; they also bought and sold some of the crops that he grew in his garden and gave Ed a cut of the profits, all in all he had an amicable relationship with _these_ people.

'Headed to Roger's today?' called a squat and portly merchant, Ed only knew Goldy.

Ed waved him down. 'Yeah, that's right. Figured I would enjoy a relaxing lunch there before meeting with the Royal Government, later tonight.' Ed said flatly, not looking forward to the later half of his day at all.

'Shit!' Goldy blurted out, drawing disapproving looks from his fellow merchants and a few on-lookers. 'Shit, that's tonight?' He asked more quietly. Ed nodded, rubbing his eyes. 'I've got a few people that I do business with in the interior, I'll write a few letters and have my assistant deliver them… No, no… I'll do that myself, she can watch the store.'

Ed looked perplexed. 'What are you talking about?'

Goldy stared back at Ed, aghast. 'If they don't like what you've found, they'll have you executed, you said so yourself. They can't do that, it's just wrong! The crops you've sold us merchants have been of much better quality than the ones we have got from the farms, if you can perfect your… magical-' ('It's not magic, it's alchemy, a form of science' snapped Ed) '- looks the same to me. Look, my point is, this... alchemy could save our food supplies from totally collapsing. If we have one more bad harvest, like the one last year; we'll be suffering from a major famine, mark my words! You're the only one who knows how to do it, they can't kill you and I'm gonna tell 'em that.'

Ed was touched by Goldy's words, as the Merchant was almost the only friend the Ed had within wall Rose. As soon as Ed had settled in wall Rose, Goldy was on Ed's door buying up his crops, treating him fairly and paying him well, despite his increasingly surly and colourful reputation. Other Merchants came, but Goldy was the first and he was the kindest.

'Thanks Goldy, I appreciate the thought. Although, hopefully those letters won't be necessary. Anyway, I will see you later. If I don't go now, who knows how long I'll have to wait. Hopefully Hermann's ferry is running to time.'

Goldy nodded and shook Ed's hand vigorously ('Have a good day my friend! Hopefully you you'll live to see tomorrow.') Ed continued to walk down the winding streets of the City towards the ferry docks as his time window was significantly shorter, after having that chat with Goldy. As the docks drew nearer, Ed started to get hampered by the crowds of people who wanted to move between the walls. Merchants, Nobles, Commoners and Soldiers were all jostling for positions to get onto the next ferry to either wall Sina or wall Maria. Ed, however didn't join in the Jostling, but fought his way through the crowds looking for the distinctive ferry owned by Hermann Bosse.

Hermann was an imposing man, at least 190 centimetres tall; whom Ed absolutely loathed, and vise-versa. As result Ed and Hermann steered clear of each other as often as possible, as Hermann was a Church of the Walls follower; who couldn't look past Ed's assaulting of that preacher, all those years ago. Yet whenever Ed needed to move by ferry, he went straight to Hermann. This quirk in the two men's relationship came about when Ed saved Hermann's daughter, Daisy, from a group of thugs that were going to rob her and probably… well… do worse things… Ed felt sick to the core when ever he thought about it, as Daisy was such a sweet young woman; he struggled to fathom how humans could do such things to each other. Despite Hermann's utter loathing of Ed's violence and "lack of faith", Hermann felt compelled to repay Ed's Chivalry by promising Ed free trips on his ferry whenever Ed needed it and Ed was all too happy to cash in on this offer.

Gazing through the crowd, Ed heard the gruff voice of Hermann calling over the other ferry owners for passengers, his voice was rough and commanding, hoarse from all the years he'd spent shouting on the ferries. Using his voice as a guide, Ed quickly found Hermann, standing on the gangway of his ferry, which was painted all black and decorated with symbols of his faith.

'Hermann! Hey, Hermann!' Called Ed, over the bustling crowd. 'Are you headed to Shiganshina?'

Hermann didn't acknowledge Ed at first, as he was arguing over travel prices with a potential passenger, as Ed was about to call out again; Hermann gave Ed a thumbs up and waved him on board, so Ed strolled past him onto his ferry.

'Hey, how come he get's to go on without-'

'He saved my daughter's life from a pack of thugs. He did her… and me a great service and I owe him. I don't know you, so I don't owe you, therefore you owe me. Now pay-up!'

Ed chuckled to himself and quickly found a comfortable spot near the bow of the ferry. Ed sat himself down and prepared himself for the long trip to Shiganshina and a nice pleasant lunch. Ed, now comfortable at the bow of the ferry, busied himself, by going through his shoulder-bag, going over the documents he was to present to the Royal Government. Just reading through and going over his notes, diagrams, statistics and other information, took the better part of 2 and a half hours, the only reason he stopped was because he was about to fall asleep and Ed knew that Hermann would love to use Ed's lack of consciousness as an excuse to renege on their deal. So Ed rummaged through his bag and found the remnants of one of his few successful pet projects in his bag, a pair of white gloves made of a compound fabric; called ignition cloth. Ed managed to create a weapon using alchemy capable of creating and, to a certain extent, controlling fire.

Ed managed to figure out how to perform this, "flame alchemy", from fragments of recalled memory of a tall, dark haired man, who used the same alchemy as a weapon, himself. Although Ed could hardly recall who this man was.

Getting on this train of thought was, Ed had discovered over the years; was a bad idea, as he could never quite piece together the few memory fragments he could recall, but nonetheless Ed crossed his arms and legs, closed his eyes and tried to piece his life, from before, together. Yet, as always, Ed got nowhere, just disconnected memories, flashes, not related to anything in particular. A hollow suit of armour that Ed felt a brotherly love for, a beautiful blonde girl...woman that Ed also loved but differently, the black haired man whom Ed seemed to despise and respect all at once. All of these people were important to Ed, yet he had no idea why and nothing Ed did got him closer to putting the pieces together. All of Ed's anger was about to boil over when:

'Oi! Elric, we at Shiganshina! Are you gonna get up, or do I have to drag your arse off my ferry?' Snapped Hermann. 'Besides, you're dirtying my deck. I need to clean this spot before I let anyone else on, to remove your filth.'

Ed glowered at Hermann, slowly getting to his feet. 'Sorry about that.' said Ed, slowly, watching his tongue, so as not give Hermann a reason to hate him any more than he did already. 'I was just, let's say... taking a walk down memory lane.'

Hermann grunted. 'How about you take a walk down my gangplank. And if you're going to Roger's, tell my daughter that her mother is working late tonight so I'm cooking dinner… Also, I want you to stop talking to her about that alchemy stuff you do, I don't want you corrupting her with your heretical magic!'

Halfway down the gangplank, Ed stopped and turned. Looking Hermann dead in the eyes and with more than a hint of sarcasm in his voice, Ed blurted out. 'Alrighty, tell Daisy that mummy's working late and that you're burning dinner and to stop indulging her natural curiosities about an obscure area of _science_. Got it, see you Hermies!' Before Hermann could respond, either verbally or physically, Ed had darted off the gangplank and down the main road leading to Roger's Public House, one the best kept secrets of Walls Maria and Rose. Roger's Public House, or Roger's, was easily one of the nicest establishments in either Wall Maria, or Wall Rose.

It didn't take long for Ed to get to Roger's, as it was near the docks and Ed had been there so often that he knew how get there by instinct. Making his way to the modest oak building, Ed reached for the door's brass handle a pushed it open. Smiling, Ed was greeted to familiar sights, sounds and smells, of the modest "pub", as the locals called it, with Daisy; the barmaid serving drinks to customers and Roger, the proprietor and Barman chatting amicably to a group of Military Garrison Troops who were, hopefully off duty. Ed waved to Roger (who waved back, calling out, 'The usual, Ed?'. Getting a thumbs up from him.) and took his usual seat, in the back right-hand corner booth.

While Ed waited for his usual Steak, Salad and Mashed Potato, with a fine local Whiskey; on the Rocks, Ed took out his notes for his meeting and continued reviewing them, constantly double and triple checking his transmutation circles and chemical data for the optimum soil nutrient levels, as they were the most likely things to be scrutinised by the Royal Government's people. Ed was so involved in making sure his work was perfect that he didn't notice Daisy bring over his food, she had to pinch his arm, to get his attention.

'Ouch! What-? Daisy‽' Cried a startled Ed. 'What was that for?'

Daisy chuckled, her black hair falling effortlessly around her shoulders as she did so. 'Jeez, silly. Why do you think? You were so engrossed in your work that you didn't notice me dropping your food off.' Her voice was sweet and sing-song like, as she smiled down at Ed; who roughly pushed his note aside and was ravenously digging into his Steak. 'Eww, Ed, if you keep that up, you'll ruin our great reputation.'She added cheekily.

'Oh, pweez. I hewp make zis pwace's wepwutashun.' Ed retorted through a mouthful of steak. Swallowing, he added. 'Compliments to the chef as always.'

Daisy nodded and sat down opposite Ed. 'Will do, I'll let him know, as soon as I get off break.' Leaning forward, Daisy caught Ed's eye and smiled broadly, her white teeth contrasting nicely against her brown skin. 'So, what brings you here today? You're eating like it's your last meal.'

Ed choked as she said this. 'It might well be, if things don't go well tonight.' He blurted out before he could stop himself. ' _Well done, idiot. You could have broken that a little smoother. I don't think she even knows about our actual work!_ ' He thought immediately after.

Daisy's face fell from sweet happiness, to deep concern in an instant. 'What are you talking about‽ What's going on with you, Ed?'

Ed sighed, and put his knife fork down. Running his hands through his hair and leaning back into his seat, weighing his options. 'If you must know, it involves my alchemy. So if I tell you, I'll be breaking an order from your father - (getting a strange look from her, Ed briefly told Daisy about what Hermann had said to him) - so if you want to go against his-'

'Ed, I'm nearly twenty-one, despite what my father thinks, I can think for myself!' Daisy snapped.

Ed held up his hand in mock surrender and proceeded to tell her about his "agreement" with the Royal Government. He told about how he had to use his alchemy to improve farm yields, or face the possibility of execution, though he did leave out everything that happened before that and his little trump card, because the look on Daisy's face was heartbreaking enough, he didn't need her feeling for him more that she already was.

As soon as Ed finished his story, Daisy reached forward, taking both his hands in hers. 'Oh, Ed! This is horrible, how have you been so calm and… normal with this weight on your shoulders?' Squeezing his hands, she looked deep into his eyes, imploring him to answer.

Ed didn't answer at first. He just stared at Daisy's hands, wrapped firmly around his own and fought back the flood of memories that came with the sensation. 'It's just something you get used to.' Muttered Ed, his voice feeble and pathetic, just like his excuse.

Daisy frowned at him, but knew she wasn't getting more out of him, so she instead looked at his notes. 'Is this what you're presenting to the Royal Government?' Ed nodded. 'Explain it to me.'

'What?'

'Tell me about your research, I won't really understand it, but at least you'll be better able to hear any flaws in your research,' She said, sounding sure and commanding.

Ed couldn't fault her thinking, after all, the best way to learn; was to teach. Pushing his unfinished food aside and started going through his notes with Daisy. As Ed went through things like crop rotation cycles, irrigation techniques, soil ph-levels, soil treatment methods and how alchemy could be applied to each of these, Daisy's eyes glazed over more than once, but that didn't matter, as a small group of between five to ten people had crowded Ed's booth to listen to his "crazy, magic farming stuff".

Only two of those people were actually farmers and they offered a bit of valuable insight into some of Ed's basic ideas.

'Look kid ('I'm twenty-three') you're younger than me; so you're a kid, even if this is possible, you'll need to change water levels and ph-levels slowly, or you risk sending the crops into shock. Plants aren't able to adapt like we can, so if you change their environment too quickly, you'll kill them. Your magic ('Science!'),whatever, will have to change the soil's moisture and ph-levels over maybe 3 hours, not 3 seconds.'

Making some notes on the relevant pages, Ed thanked the farmer for his advice. The other farmer was about to speak, when the dull, easily ignorable drone and bustle of the streets outside was replaced by a loud crashing noise and screaming.

Ed shoved his notes back into his bag and sprinted outside with the others in Roger's pub. Crowding onto the main road, everyone was looking for the source of the commotion, not that it took long to find.

Daisy, who was huddled behind Ed spoke first. 'Th-tha-that Wall is over 50 metres tall… How-how can that be taller than it?'

Ed saw it too. An absolutely gargantuan Titan that stood head and shoulders above the gate protecting Shiganshina from the outside world. Ed, like everyone else stood frozen in fear, watching, as the beast slammed its' hands onto the top of Wall Maria. As the Beast gripped the parapet, Ed took in its' appearance properly: based on the little of the Titan he could see, this colossal Titan had absolutely no skin, unlike the others that Ed fought in the forest, his intricate network of muscles and ligaments were an almost identical match to a humans', just greatly scaled up.

Ed felt a tugging at his red coat. Looking over his shoulder, he could see Daisy quivering with fear. Ed put his arm around her and squeezed her reassuringly, whilst also looking for Roger.

'Roger, take these people and run to the docks.' Barked Ed. Roger wheeled around and stared incredulously at him, clearly about to demand why, but before he could, Ed was already barking orders at him again. 'If this Titan is as strong as it looks, it's going to be able to smash open the gate of Wall Maria, allowing the other Titans to get in. I've fought them before, so I know what I'm doing. I can hold them off, and if the Garrison is not totally inept, I'll co-ordinate with them too.'

Everyone stared at Ed, clearly shocked at his bold proclamations, yet Ed made no move to answer any of their questions. Rummaging through his bag, he found the white, reactor cloth gloves he was looking for and put them on.

'What are you waiting for‽' Ed snapped, when he noticed no-one had moved. 'To the docks, now! Run!'

Roger nodded, and started to shove his patrons towards the docks. Despite some minor protest, they all got the message and began to run for the ferry docks. Ed, still a bit in shock and very much; terrified, stared at the Colossal Titan (' _Solid name, very fitting, I'll stick with that_ ') and estimated that he was about 70 kilometres away from it. Doing the math in his head, Ed decided that if he could, should create a fireball within ten kilometres of it and create a ten kilometre wide fireball, which should… in theory, incinerate the Titan's weak spot. Ed raised his hand, about to snap his fingers, when a strong force knocked him off his feet and flying down the street.

Lying on his back, Ed saw the world going to hell around him, as the debris from the breaching of Wall Maria crashed down around him.

 **A/N: Sorry about the wait guys, I know I implied that I would try to semi-regular about these things, but I am a fuck-wit so don't worry yourself too much. I know where I am going with this, kinda, so try to stick with me, despite my irregularities. I'll try to at least be like the CGP Grey of FanFiction, irregular, but relentlessly entertaining.**


	5. Homewrecker

**Chapter 5**

Eren was still mad at Mikasa for telling Mum about his wishes to join the Scout Regiment. Eren had confided in Mikasa about this ages ago and she swore not to tell, but for some reason she just said it, right there, in the dining room; to her face. Eren knew she might have the best of intentions, but he was still mad at her for betraying him like this.

Armin, of course, was tying to be all philosophical and moderate about what Mikasa had done, but still didn't change the fact that it hurt. Eren knew that Mikasa and his mother only wanted the best for him, as he wished for them; but he refused to sit tight behind the walls doing nothing, while the Titans roamed freely out there.

"Eren, your mum was going to find out about you wanting to join the Scouts before long. So, at least she'll have time to get used to the idea now. Besides, your dad didn't seem to fussed, so don't worry, this'll work out. You'll see." Armin said, with that wisdom he always seems to possess.

Eren sat quietly on the river bank, staring into the water, thinking about what Armin had said. It seemed right to him, if only slightly and now that he was calming down, he was really starting to regret yelling at his mum the way he did. He didn't mean to call her, or her life stupid, she may have been a housewife; but she still worked hard to care for him and Mikasa. Eren resolved to make it up to her as soon as he got home, he was angry at Mikasa, not Mum; after all.

Still something remained unresolved. "Why'd you have to tell her though?" Eren snapped, not looking at Mikasa. "You swore you'd keep it a secret!".

Eren heard Mikasa shuffle behind him, clearly she'd hoped Armin's calm rationalism would soothe the feeling of betrayal the Eren must now endure. To make the situation more infuriating, Eren couldn't figure if Mikasa would be wearing a smug grin, or an ashamed frown, only heightening his emotions.

"Eren…Eren, I only…I only…" Mikasa's voice trailed off, with no clear emotion present in her tone. Eren whipped around to face her, only stop dead in his tracks himself. Mikasa was standing with her back to Armin and him, pointing at the top of the Gate Entrance to Shiganshina.

Above the wall, there was an unnatural fog, gathering above the wall. Eren and Armin both got to their feet and joined Mikasa, staring at the fog. Eren opened his mouth to speak, as he did so; he heard Armin open his mouth too, neither got the chance to speak, as there was a blinding flash of pale yellow lightning and a deafening explosion, followed by a powerful shockwave that knocked the three of them off their feet.

As the Eren, Mikasa and Armin scrambled to their feet, a truly horrifying sight. Leering over the top of the wall was a gargantuan, skinless face, with clenched teeth.

'Is that a… Titan?' Gasped Eren, grasping his now bruised ribs.

'It must be… but the wall is over 50 metres tall! The tallest ever recorded is 15 metres." Armin blurted out.

The skinless Titan reached out and grabbed the top of Wall Maria, then; without thinking, Eren took off at full speed towards the Gate of Wall Maria, followed closely by Mikasa and Armin. Weaving through the streets of Shiganshina, Eren and the others, pelted past gaping onlookers and petrified soldiers.

Finally, stood before this monstrosity, in the main street of Shiganshina; did the gravity of what they were seeing sink in. This enormous, skinless Titan was clutching onto the top of Wall Maria, glaring into the town below it. As the beast surveyed the winding streets and buildings below it, Eren could have sworn that the beast looked right at them, it's huge green eyes and skinless face and arms chilled him to the very core.

Turning to Armin, voiced and body shaking slightly, Eren asked. "You don't think it can actually get in do you?"

Armin didn't acknowledge Eren for some time. He just stood, rooted to the spot; jaw gaping in fear. How long they stood as they were, Mikasa and Armin staring at the Titan and Eren staring at Armin, Eren didn't know; but it felt like seconds were being drawn out far longer than they should be.

Without warning, Armin twitched sporadically, he was making whimpering noises and his eyes were glistening. Then in the blink of an eye, he had turned and sprinted off down the main street, screaming his lungs out. With that… or maybe before, the streets suddenly rang with the sounds of chaos, almost everyone, small and large, old and young, were sprinting for the Gate out of Shiganshina and into Wall Maria proper. The Military Garrison personnel were rushing around doing whatever it was they were trained to do and Mikasa and Eren just stood side by side and stared at the Titan.

After another, far shorter moment, Mikasa spoke. "Eren, we should run home and get mum."

"Yeah, we shou-"

There was a cloud of dust, an explosion and a shockwave strong enough to knock Eren and Mikasa flat on their backs. As Eren flew through the air, he saw chunks of rock and brick fly through the air above him. Wall Maria had been breached and the Titans outside would come through.

"Oh no! Mum!" Eren glanced around and saw his world in ruins. Mikasa was sprawled out next to him, struggling to her feet. The street he had run down hours earlier, away from his home in rage, had been flattened by the rubble of the wall that flew in the city of Shiganshina, crushing everything that got in its' way. "Mikasa, we have to get home! Mum could be in trouble!"

Eren bolted down the ruined street, Mikasa only a metre or two behind him.

"Eren be careful!" Mikasa called out. "There could be a Titan there for all we know!"

Eren ignored her, as he ran; ever closer to his home. The rubble around him painted a very dark picture, but it couldn't be, that he and Mikasa's mother would be crushed under rubble, she was too important to him.

As Eren rounded the corner, any hope that he held about finding his mother unharmed quickly vanished. His home was in ruins, a sizable chunk of Wall Maria was sticking out of the ground where his house used to be. Now just shingles and crumble wood remained.

"Mum! Mum‽"

"Carla! Mother‽"

Eren and Mikasa roared their lungs hoarse, as they ran to the ruins of what used to be their home. They were screaming so much they nearly didn't hear their mother, as they rounded to where the front door used to be.

"Eren? Mikasa?" Carla squeaked, pitifully. "Thank god you're okay, no go, get out of here before a Titan comes!" She was crushed, her upper body was visible from under the rubble but the rest of her was stuck underneath a beam that once held up the roof. Carla's long black hair was messy and fell around her shoulders, casting her slender face in shadow, yet somehow; her brown eyes shone through that, glistening with tears.

Eren was mortified by what he saw. To see with mother like this, he loved her and he wasn't going to let her die like this.

"No way! Mum we're getting you out of there, just hold on, we can all get away together!" Eren cried, running forward and grasping at the beam, keeping his mother pinned. Mikasa ran forward too, grabbing onto the same piece of wood and both of them heaved with all their might.

Eren and Mikasa could feel the beam shift ever so slightly and it filled Eren with hope. He pulled again, grunting with effort, Mikasa; too, was straining under weight of the task they were undertaking.

"Eren, what are you doing? Do you want to get eaten by a Titan‽" Carla yelled at him, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Mikasa, you too? Don't do this! Talk some sense into Eren and run!"

Mikasa shook her head. Between gritted teeth, Mikasa grunted. "No Carla, we're going to save you. I've already lost one family, I will not lose another!"

"You idiots! Don't waste your time! I can't feel my legs!" Carla yelled.

"So I'll carry you!" Eren yelled back.

Eren and Mikasa kept trying to free their mother, all the while ignoring Carla's protests, the struggle between the three blocked out almost everything, except the fact the ground was shaking a lot more than it was a second ago.

Mikasa looked up and let out a small squeal, heaving on the beam even more urgently than before. Eren looked up to see what had cause Mikasa, who was usually quite stoic, to panic like that.

Thumping up the street to their home was a Titan, at least 10 metres tall, with a hideous; fixed grinning, smile; its' teeth and gums exposed for all to see. Its' face was framed by sleek black hair, that fell to its' neck and its' body, despite its' size, looked stocky and emaciated; like it hadn't eaten in some time (not that titans needed to eat, of course).

Eren, too, panicked; doubling his efforts to heave up the wooden beam that was trapping his mother, he could feel it as the beam cut into his hands and caused them to bleed. Carla, was also aware of the looming danger and screaming at them to run.

Then, much to Eren and Mikasa's surprise, Carla looked full of hope. She was staring at point in space just behind Eren and Mikasa. "Oh, Hannes, thank god you're here!"

Eren and Mikasa whipped their heads around to see if it was true and sure enough, standing before them, was Hannes: the tall, blonde member of the Garrison regiment, with whom Eren so often argued.

Hannes casually run up to Carla and knelt. Eren could still smell the alcohol on him, that he had been drinking earlier that day, yet he seemed steady on his feet and looked like he was ready for anything.

"Hold tight Carla, I'll get you out-"

Carla cut him off. "Hannes, don't be stupid! Take the children and get them to safety!"

Standing, Hannes let out a jovial laugh. "Carla, m'dear, your husband saved my wife during the plague, now I'll save you." He glanced down at Eren and Mikasa, winking as he did so. "Besides, I've only got one set of skills and that's killing Titans!"

Hannes fixed his eyes on the Titan and ran, pulling out blades from the sheathes at his sides. Reaching the corner of the house, Hannes turned to face the Titan and stopped dead in his tracks, just a few metres past the end of the house. His head was craned back at such a painful angle as he stared straight into the eyes of the Grinning Titan. The beast fixed its' steely, sunken, brown eyes on Hannes and any resolve he had, seemed to crumble in the face of his enemy.

Turning on his heel, Hannes began to run back to the house, only to stop again. "Ed? What are you doing here?"

Eren, shocked at Hannes sudden changes in attitude turned again to see a tall, muscular man, with long blonde hair; tied behind his head. The man, presumably, was the "Ed" Hannes had yelled at. Ed marched forward, paying no mind to Hannes, his bright; gold eyes glancing quickly between Eren and his family and the Grinning Titan.

The man held out a gloved hand and snapped his fingers. Orange lightning crackled around his fingers for a brief moment, then as if like magic, fire shot through the air and exploded around the Titan's head, causing it to fall backwards, with only a stump where its' head used to be.

"Hannes, you drunk piece of shit!" Ed yelled, rounding on Hannes. "You really are a bloody coward aren't you?"

Hannes stammered, shock and confused. "What? How did you? How-"

Ed, turning on Eren, Mikasa and Carla, snapped back at Hannes. "It doesn't matter! Make yourself useful and get the kids outta here."

Hannes nodded and ran over to Eren and Mikasa, picking them up, despite their protests.

Carla began to cry, staring up at this 'Ed' person. "Thank you, sir! Thank you! Now please, don't waste your time on me. I'm dead already, save them!"

Ed snorted, taking off his gloves. Hannes who had Eren sat on his shoulder and Mikasa under his arm stood, rooted to the spot and watched him, curiously. Eren and Mikasa had to shift awkwardly, but they too did the same. Stuffing his gloves in his pocket, Ed clapped his hands and knelt next Carla.

"Don't be ridiculous, miss." His voice was serious, as he appraised Carla's situation. "I'll have you out of here in a second."

Eren watched in amazement as Ed placed his hands on the ground and proceeded to perform something more amazing than blowing off the Titan's head. Blue lightning arched around him and into the ruins of his house. Then slowly and carefully, the rubble that pinned Carla down rose up, off her.

"No… way?" Eren gasped.

Ed stood and walked around Carla, he seemed to be checking if it was safe to drag her out from under the rubble. "Yes way." He said off handedly, before rounding on Hannes, Eren and Mikasa. "Hannes? What are you still doing here‽ Fucking RUN!"

"But what about-?" Eren started to ask.

Exasperated, Ed shook his hands angrily. "Just go! I got her!"

Hannes began to run away, while Eren and Mikasa still did their best to watch, as Ed crouched over their mother and performed more lighting magic. Eren could only imagine what he must be doing, when Hannes rounded a corner and they disappeared from view.

 **A/N: So, sorry for the long wait. I hope this doesn't read like it's rushed because this chapter took me for-fucking-ever to write. I hope you enjoy it and I will be hopefully uploading more regularly very soon, as my semester at Uni is almost over. Tell us what you think, but if you sass me, or give me useless feed back, I will not be kind. Many thanks from this grumpy cunt.**

 **MrLegionNation**


	6. Demolition Targets

**Chapter 6**

Ed crouched over the wounded woman. Those kids must have really loved their mother if they were willing to risk certain death like that, to try and save her. Ed examined her closely, her legs were crushed and bleeding, parts of her spine were clearly shattered, though not sticking through her skin. It got worse and worse the more he looked at her, if she was left to normal doctors, she would be as good as dead. Fortunately, Ed wasn't a normal doctor, technically he wasn't a doctor at all but that doesn't matter now.

Ed knew there was only one way to save this woman and he prepared to perform the necessary alchemy to save her life. Ed held his hands over her torso and took one last look at her body, just to make sure and boy was he glad he did. Blood had started to trickle out of her nose, mouth and one ear. She was still breathing, but even using his internal philosopher's stone, this wasn't going to be easy.

"I need a volunteer." Ed asked, within himself. "You're going to have to go into this woman's body and assess her brain. It could just be that she bit her tongue, broken her nose and ruptured her eardrum. Though, if only we should be so lucky."

The tempest of souls within him quieted down for a moment, in order to listen to Ed, though once he finished talking, they were back to talking and arguing over who should volunteer. It felt like hours of debate, but it only took a second in reality, before Ed heard the voice of a young boy speak-up.

"I'll do it Ed. Mum lost me when I was was their age. She was so upset with it all, I can only imagine what it would be like for them to lose their Mummy, especially like this!"

Ed smiled, of course little Tommy would be the one to step up. "Thank you Tommy. I appreciate it. Are you sure you know what you will be look for?"

Tommy let out an impatient sigh. "Of course I know! I've been living in your body for years!"

Ed chuckled to himself, opened his eyes and looked for the nearest sharp object, not that it was hard to find one. Ed took up a rusted nail that jutted out of the woodwork and held it and placed one of his hands over the woman.

"Ready Tommy?"

"Yes, Ed"

Ed drove the nail into his palm until it drew blood. The blood congealed quickly, pooling in his hand into a small ellipse. With great care, Ed dropped the philosopher's stone into the woman's ear and immediately, her body stiffened, as her soul tried to fight against Tommy's. It didn't last long though and soon after the woman relaxed, with the occasional bit of red lightning lashing around her face, healing her nose, mouth and ear. It only took a few seconds but soon enough, Tommy's stone began to pool in the woman's ear again. Ed cut his hand again, though no blood came out and allowed Tommy to be reabsorbed back into himself.

"Bad news, Ed." he said sadly.

"What is it?"

"There is nothing we can do, even if you used us to heal her. Her brain is too badly damaged. To rebuild the… neural connections? - "Yeah, you got it" - "To rebuild the neural connections in a way that would allow her body to makes sense of them is nearly impossible."

Ed's eyes widened in shock. Sure he had rapidly lost most of his memory after arriving in this world, but he could not ever remember not being able to solve a problem with alchemy. "What do you mean it would be nearly impossible!?"

Tommy, with the help of the other souls, explained the woman's dire situation. Most of her neural connections from her brain to her body were either cut or severely damaged, though the connection to her Heart and Lungs were intact, most of the memory centres, including her Thalamus, her speech centre and other areas were damaged to a point where repairing them would make her forget what little she would remember. Sure she could be healed, but there is no guarantee that this woman's body and brain would begin to understand the new connections, at least not in time for her to not drown in her own filth.

Ed was struggling to get to grips with this realisation, when one thing struck him as odd.

"Tommy, why did you fix her face, if you were sure she is going to die?"

Ed heard Tommy gasp in surprise. "Why? Her kids should get the chance to say goodbye to her, of course! Mummy got to say goodbye to me after all. I wouldn't want her to look like that when they see her."

Ed nodded. He saw Tommy's point and agreed completely. After a few seconds of thinking, Ed knew what he had to do.

"I need volunteers, more than one, to share the load of keeping here alive while I take her to the evacuation point."

In matter of seconds, Ed was cutting his hand again and letting the liquid philosopher's stone drop into the woman's ear, watching it absorb into her body, all the while making a sort of combined stretcher and carrier, so that he could carry the woman comfortably on his back without causing her more harm.

It took a few minutes but Ed strapped the woman into his contraption, then strapped that thing to his back. Straining with the effort of lifting this woman and remaining balanced Ed slowly got to his feet. He had just finished checking that the ropes and cables he'd made were tied securely, when the ground began shaking again.

Ed looked awkwardly over his shoulder at where the shaking appeared to be coming from. Sure enough he could see at least three more Titans headed his way from the open Gate of Shiganshina. He could also see the telltale signs of steam coming from the body of the Titan that he attacked earlier, meaning either that it was decomposing; or regenerating, either way Ed was too over encumbered to bother sticking around.

Ed took off as fast as he could, it was hard to get going and stay on his feet with the extra weight, yet he managed to move at a reasonable pace and was able to avoid the Titan hotspots, eventually linking up with a group of Garrison Regiment Soldiers and having them escort him to the place where the evacuations were being staged, behind the second layer of Wall Maria. Ed stumbled through the Gate after a very long run, looking around wildly for Hannes and the two children, though that wasn't made easy because the soldiers Ed found were pushing him towards a barge full of civilians that were heading behind Wall Rose. That's where he saw them, being led by Hannes towards the ferries.

"Hey Hannes!" Ed roared out across the crowded plaza. "Hannes, get those kids to me!"

Hannes, hearing Ed wheeled around and jumped back in surprise, seeing Ed with the woman strapped to her back. He quickly grabbed the two kids and dragged them in his direction.

The young boy ran forward as soon as he saw Ed, his face was full of hope, yet as he got closer and closer that hope faded away. His sister was much the same, running at great speed, staring wide-eyed and full of hope, until they saw their mother hanging limply on his back.

Ed set the woman down and loosened her straps, so she could move more freely. Turning to look at the children, Ed didn't know what to say to them, or how to get the stone out of their mother's body without them noticing.

"I know what you're going to say. You're going to ask about my 'magic' and how it couldn't save your mother. I know you don't want to hear this, but my magic - alchemy it's called - isn't all powerful. It cannot perform miracles, despite its' power. I don't know how long she has left but I have kept her alive for long enough, so you can at least say goodbye."

The boy and his… sister? ( _They don't look alike_ ) looked horrified. Their mother looked healthier, like she had been healed to them.

"What do you mean you couldn't heal her? She looks okay! What couldn't you do‽" The Boy yelled at Ed, tears winking, in the corner of his eyes.

"She's our mum! Can't you do anything more‽" The Girl roared.

Ed shook his head. "I was able to heal her external wounds. Fix her broken bones and so on, but the real damage was done to her brain-" "Her what" "-Her brain. It's the organ in your head responsible for doing… for being you? Anyway, hers' is so badly damaged, that fixing it would risk killing her at worst and making her lose her memories of you at best. If you want me to try and save her, it's your call, just be aware of the consequences."

Hannes, who Ed had completely forgot about until now, finally spoke up, as it turned out that he had been standing close by, while giving the children their space. "Whoa, Ed this isn't how you treat these kids, you know. They've been through alot and now you drop this on them? What is the point?"

Ed ran his hands through his hair. "The point is that is not a choice I should make, this is their mother and they should be fully informed about her situation and if necessary, get a chance to say a proper goodbye! Besides, there were more Titans on the way and it's hard to fight with a woman strapped to you back!"

Hannes was about to shoot back a reply, when the woman began coughing violently. Immediately, Ed swung around to face her, pulling out a handkerchief from his pockets to cover her mouth. As he did so, he felt for the familiar sense of souls, waiting for the stone exit her body and sure enough, after a minute or two of coughing the stone was in the handkerchief, ready to be reabsorbed.

The woman, now awake, looked around her with bleary eyes and tried moving her arms and legs, though it was not easy for her. "Eren? Mikasa? You're okay! How did you get me here? Where is here?" She asked meekly, still trying to get her bearings. "What's going on?"

The two children rushed forward and embraced their mother, crying profusely. They didn't hold back the tears and they tried to explain to her, what her situation was, but through all the sobbing, even Ed had no idea what was being said. It quickly fell to Hannes to explain to the woman how bad a state she was in, though it wasn't a great explanation, it got the point across.

Still her reaction was telling. "Who are you? What do you mean I am close to death? What are Titans?" The woman tried to stand up, but her legs refused to move, though she had good control of her arms. "Why won't my legs move?"

The children ( _Eren and Mikasa? I thought Erin was a girl's name?_ ) let go of their mother in shock. They were about to speak, when Ed leant forwards. "Miss, if I may explain? You have sustained very traumatic injuries. I was able to heal your broken bones, but I can't fix memories, or your skills; like walking, digesting and so on, not without a serious risk of making it worse."

No one moved, or spoke for some time. The woman's children were having a hard time processing everything they were being told, they were barely holding back the tears as they tried to come to terms with the fact that they might have to watch their mother die. For Ed, the Children and Hannes, it was like the world had disappeared, only the few square metres they were all standing on seemed to exist. Then ground started rumbling again and the sound of grinding gears filled the air.

"Hey, they're closing the gate!" Roared Hannes. "My mates are still out there, as well as any number of civilians! They can't do that!"  
Hannes took off at a sprint, leaving Ed alone with the woman and her children. Their gaze, following Hannes, could see that the Gate of Wall Maria, leading the main wall to Shiganshina, was closing. Ed, knew that things must be getting far worse in the city if the Gate was closing. He slipped an arm under the woman's legs and one around her back, hoisting her up and carrying her towards the ferry at a run.

"You two better follow me, let's get you on the barge!" Ed yelled. "Have you made a decision about whether you want me to try save your mum?"

The two children ran at equal pace with Ed, staring at his face in earnest. "Do what you can, she's our mother!" Snapped Eren.

Mikasa nodded in support. "She's the the only family we have! Save her!"

As the three made it to the Gangway to the Barge, Ed noticed a familiar face. Hermann was standing at the stern of his barge and deep in an argument with some of the garrison personnel. Ed couldn't hear them properly, but it was pretty obvious from all the hand waving and from all the people on the barge, the Hermann was refusing to take on more people.

'If you want me to do this, you have to be prepared to accept the chance that she might not make it ('we know!') and that she might not be the same, even if she does. ('We get it!') Just so you know.' Ed said, trying his best to be sympathetic and reassuring. Not that it was easy with a nearly dead woman, in the middle of a Titan attack. 'I'll get you on the barge, wait for me there!'

The two children began to protest but Ed silenced them, letting them sit with their mother and pushed through the swelling crowd towards Hermann and the soldiers he was arguing with.

'Hermann! Hermann!' Ed yelled at the top of his lungs and waved his arms, until Hermann acknowledged him. 'I have two kids and their mother with me! Can you spare room for them?'

Hermann threw his hands into the air, impatiently. 'Those three and no more! She's barely above the waterline as it is!'

Ed shouted his thanks back at Hermann as he turned on his heel, hurrying back to the Children. As soon as he reached them, he grabbed them by the hands and dragged them onto the ferry. They fought him every step of the way but Ed was strong enough to get them onto the ferry, without having to resort to more distasteful measures.

'You two! Stay here!' Ed snapped at them, taking out a piece of paper and writing something down on, using alchemy to stain the page. When you get inside Wall Rose, find this address. It's my house, you can stay with me. You're mother is going to need to be moved carefully and slowly, I will see to it!'

Eren and Mikasa tried to protest but Ed had shoved the paper into Eren's hands, then turned away and had rushed down the gangplank and was rushing back to the children's mother. As Ed forced his way through the crowd back to the now prone woman, Ed could hear a distant, rapid thumping, like a giant running and it was getting closer. Whatever it was, it was big and it was heading towards Wall Maira, proper, at great speed.

'Okay, Miss?' Ed said as he reached the children's mother. She groaned in response. 'I'm going to try and heal you, but there isn't much chance it'll work. Are you ready?'

The woman nodded, less with understanding and more in acknowledgement of being spoken to, but Ed wasn't going to be picky, as he knew he needed to be precise in this "operation". Using his alchemy, he created a medical transmutation circle, then proceeded to pick up the woman. All the while, the running was getting closer and closer.

Placing the woman in the circle, Ed began the process of transmuting her body, to try and heal her. ' _Hell, I hope this works! I don't want those kids to be lose their mother. I know what that feels like… I think.'_ Ed was so focused on the transmutation, that world seemed to disappear around him, he was so focused on trying to encourage nerve growth in the woman's spine, he didn't realise the people around him were starting to panic and shove their way onto the over-full barges and how the soldiers were beginning to rush towards the Gate entrance, preparing to defend it.

What snapped Ed out of his focus, was the bright flash of light that signified failing of the medical transmutation. Ed was thrown back about a metre and quickly scramble forward. The woman was a mess, blood trickled from her open mouth, nose and ears. Her auburn hair was splayed out beneath her, messy and slowly being mixed with blood, from a gaping wound that slowly opened up in her head. It was clear that her injuries were far worse than first anticipated and Ed was not going to let those kids see their mother's corpse like this. Thinking quickly, he threw himself between her and the ferries.

Turning slowly around, he could see the Hermann's ferry was slowly pulling away, the motors, that attached it to the guidance cables that would lead it into the safety of Wall Rose. He could also see, looking over the stern of the ferry, were the two children still close enough to see what was going on but not close enough to see it in detail, as Ed could only partially see their faces. Not wanting to break their hearts, Ed threw out his hand, giving a thumbs up and waving, in a way he hoped looked encouraging and positive. When saw them wave back and jump up-and-down, hugging, Ed new he'd fooled them and immediately, he felt guilty for doing so. Though the guilt wasn't the normal guilt, that one would feel when they tell a blatant lie, they have no moral connection to, it felt like he was breaking a deep personal oath, like he was a hypocrite, doing something he'd never do because it was done to him… but he couldn't remember why.

Though Ed as slowly faded in and out of reality, pondering his lie and trying to find a way to make it to the Gate of Wall Maria leading to Shiganshina, Ed finally acknowledged the sheer panic that filled the people around him. There were mothers and their children, huddled together at the docks, somewhere staring at Ed, as they had never seen alchemy before and some were just staring at the departed ferries, waiting for them to return; while their husbands and fathers argued with Garrison Troops about… ' _What were they arguing about?'_ Ed thought to himself, pushing his way towards a prominent group of men arguing with Garrison Troops, keeping in mind that the children might still be watching, did his best, to hide the fact that their mother had died.

'Please sirs, you need to take your families and make your way to Wall Rose on foot!' snapped an athletic looking Garrison Officer. Her hair was short and silver and she had half-moon glasses on her face, her arms were crossed and she had a look of barely concealed panic in her eyes.

'We're not going anywhere, until those ferries get back! Are you telling us that the Garrison can't do its' job properly!'

The Garrison Officer had a response on her lips and was just ready to speak, when the cannons on top of Wall Maria opened-up, in a powerful volley of fire, down into Shiganshina. Garrison Troops on the wall were yelling down to the people on the ground, though Ed couldn't hear what they were yelling, it must have been scary because people near the gate were fleeing from it in every direction.

Mere seconds later Ed watched, helplessly, as the Main Gate of wall Maria exploded just like the Gate to Shiganshina did. Though what came barging through the Gate was not the Colossal Titan, but a 15 metre tall Titan covered in what looked like armour plates. It blasted through the Gate, sending debris everywhere and again, knocking Ed off his feet. Scrambling to his feet seconds later, Ed surveyed the damage done: boulders were strewn all over the ground, getting more sparse the further away from the gate they were, buildings were toppled; some by the boulders and others by the sheer force of the shock-wave and bodies… lots of bodies.

Survivors scrambled over to where their loved-ones lay trying to get them to move, while the Garrison turned everything they had on this new threat. Not that it mattered, as with the Gate open, Titans could pour through the breach and begin their merciless assault on the survivors.

Ed turned to look at the dead woman ( _Clara?_ ) one last time, only to find a boulder the size of baby's cot where she lay, with a blood red smear being all that remained of her. Ed didn't have a chance to look for Eren and Mikasa, as the thumping of Titan feet brought him back to reality. Stepping forward, Ed roared in anger, anger at the death of a mother, anger at lying, anger at the deaths of so many innocent, blindly in his rage, he ran.

He ran right into the mess of Titans and lost control, he rushed at the armoured Titan fiercely using his flames and the elements around him to try and kill this monster, but nothing seemed to work. It dodged his flames, broke his stone spires and lances, it even booted Ed across what used to be a market square. Ed even attacked it with his Philosopher's Stone, without asking permission first, to no avail. The Red Alchemy streamed across the sky, detonating right in front of Ed's armoured foe, but still it stood, glaring with dead yellow eyes. Then with no warning, like the Colossal Titan from earlier, it vanished in a cloud of steam and smoke.

Ed creamed out again, furious at the denial of combat, enraged by his enemy's hasty retreat, but surrounded by Titans, Ed had no choice but to keep fighting. Will all the power of traditional alchemy he could muster, Ed attacked, thinking nothing of his own safety; only of a new found desire to kill.

After several frenzied minutes, Ed found himself standing on top of Wall Maria roaring himself hoarse at the Titans. He wasn't saying anything, just screaming like some wild beast, trapped in a cage. Realising this, Ed closed his mouth immediately and took stock of his situation. He was atop the 50 metre Wall Maria, the ground where he was standing before was full of Titans, chasing people, fighting Garrison Troops, or struggling to get through (or off) the myriad of spikes, ditches, pillars and other obstacles Ed had made. There were also 6 Garrison Troops standing nearby to Ed, regarding him with weary eyes.

"Uhh, you there! Blondy!" snapped a fit looking young man, nursing a small arm wound. "Who-who are you? What were you just doing?"

Ed glowered at him. "Doesn't matter, who I am or what I can do! This Gate is breached and we need to get out of here!" Ed marched at the Soldier, his golden eyes blazing. As soon as the man was in reach, Ed clapped his hands and grabbed the Soldier's arm. Blue lightning crackled through it and the Soldier yanked his arm back in shock, only to find his arm healed.

"You're right, we must evacuate as many civilians as we can and get out of here!" The Soldier said, clearly startled at Ed's brazen displays of alchemy.

Ed nodded and turn to face the Titans, now 50 metres below him. "Quick question: how did I get up here and how do I get down?"


	7. Lies, Hypocrisy and Rubble

**Chapter 6**

Ed crouched over the wounded woman. Those kids must have really loved their mother if they were willing to risk certain death like that, to try and save her. Ed examined her closely, her legs were crushed and bleeding, parts of her spine were clearly shattered, though not sticking through her skin. It got worse and worse the more he looked at her, if she was left to normal doctors, she would be as good as dead. Fortunately, Ed wasn't a normal doctor, technically he wasn't a doctor at all but that didn't matter now.

Ed knew there was only one way to save this woman and he prepared to perform the necessary alchemy to save her life. Ed held his hands over her torso and took one last look at her body, just to make sure and boy was he glad he did. Blood had started to trickle out of her nose, mouth and one ear. She was still breathing, but even using his internal philosopher's stone, this wasn't going to be easy.

"I need a volunteer." Ed asked, within himself. "You're going to have to go into this woman's body and assess her brain. It could just be that she bit her tongue, broken her nose and ruptured her eardrum. Though, if only we should be so lucky."

The tempest of souls within him quieted down for a moment, in order to listen to Ed, though once he finished talking, they were back to talking and arguing over who should volunteer. It felt like hours of debate but in reality, it only took a second, before Ed heard the voice of a young boy speak-up.

"I'll do it Ed. Mum lost me when I was was their age. She was so upset with it all, I can only imagine what it would be like for them to lose their Mummy, especially like this!"

Ed smiled, of course little Tommy would be the one to step up. "Thank you Tommy. I appreciate it. Are you sure you know what you will be looking for?"

Tommy let out an impatient sigh. "Of course I know! I've been living in your body for years!"

Ed chuckled to himself, opened his eyes and looked for the nearest sharp object, not that it was hard to find one. Ed secretly took up a rusty nail that jutted out of the woodwork and placed one of his hands over the woman.

"Ready Tommy?"

"Yes, Ed"

Ed drove the nail into his palm until it drew blood. The blood congealed quickly, pooling in his hand into a small ellipses. With great care, Ed dropped the philosopher's stone into the woman's ear and immediately, her body stiffened, as her soul tried to fight against Tommy's. It didn't last long though and soon after the woman relaxed, with the occasional bit of red lightning lashing around her face, healing her nose, mouth and ear. It only took a few seconds but soon enough, Tommy's stone began to pool in the woman's ear again. Ed cut his hand again, though no blood came out and allowed Tommy to be reabsorbed back into himself.

"Bad news, Ed." he said sadly.

"What is it?"

"There is nothing we can do, even if you used all of us to heal her. Her brain is too badly damaged. To rebuild the… neural connections? - "Yeah, you got it" - "To rebuild the neural connections in a way that would allow her body to makes sense of the signals is nearly impossible."

Ed's eyes widened in shock. Sure he had rapidly lost most of his memory after arriving in this world, but he could not ever remember not being able to solve a problem with alchemy. "What do you mean it would be nearly impossible!?"

Tommy, with the help of the other souls, explained the woman's dire situation. Most of her neural connections from her brain to her body were either cut or severely damaged, though the connection to her Heart and Lungs were intact. Most of the memory centres, including her Thalamus, her speech centre and other areas were damaged to a point where repairing them would make her forget what little she could remember. Sure she could be healed, but there is no guarantee that this woman's body and brain would begin to understand the new connections, at least not in time for her to not drown in her own filth.

Ed was struggling to get to grips with this realisation, when one thing struck him as odd.

"Tommy, why did you fix her face, if you were sure she is going to die?"

Ed heard Tommy gasp in surprise. "Why? Her kids should get the chance to say goodbye to her, of course! Mummy got to say goodbye to me after all. I wouldn't want her to look like that when they see her."

Ed nodded. He saw Tommy's point and agreed completely. After a few seconds of thinking, Ed knew what he had to do.

"I need volunteers, more than one, to share the load of keeping here alive while I take her to the evacuation point."

In matter of seconds, Ed was cutting his hand again and letting the liquid philosopher's stone drop into the woman's ear, watching it absorb into her body, all the while making a sort of combined stretcher and carrier, so that he could carry the woman comfortably on his back without causing her more harm.

It took a few minutes but Ed strapped the woman into his contraption, then strapped that thing to his back. Straining with the effort of lifting this woman and remaining balanced Ed slowly got to his feet. He had just finished checking that the ropes and cables he'd made were tied securely, when the ground began shaking again.

Ed looked awkwardly over his shoulder at where the shaking appeared to be coming from. Sure enough he could see at least three more Titans headed his way from the open Gate of Shiganshina. He could also see the telltale signs of steam coming from the body of the Titan that he attacked earlier, meaning either that it was decomposing; or regenerating, either way Ed was too over encumbered to bother sticking around.

Ed took off as fast as he could, it was hard to get going and stay on his feet with the extra weight, yet he managed to move at a reasonable pace and was able to avoid the Titan hotspots, eventually linking up with a group of Garrison Regiment Soldiers and having them escort him to the place where the evacuations were being staged, behind the second layer of Wall Maria. Ed stumbled through the Gate after a very long run, looking around wildly for Hannes and the two children, though that wasn't made easy because the soldiers Ed found were pushing him towards a barge full of civilians that were heading behind Wall Rose. That's where he saw them, being led by Hannes towards the ferries.

"Hey Hannes!" Ed roared out across the crowded plaza. "Hannes, get those kids to me!"

Hannes, hearing Ed wheeled around and jumped back in surprise, seeing Ed with the woman strapped to her back. He quickly grabbed the two kids and dragged them in his direction.

The young boy ran forward as soon as he saw Ed, his face was full of hope, yet as he got closer and closer that hope faded away. His sister was much the same, running at great speed, staring wide-eyed and full of hope, until they saw their mother hanging limply on his back.

Ed set the woman down and loosened her straps, so she could move more freely. Turning to look at the children, Ed didn't know what to say to them, or how to get the stone out of their mother's body without them noticing.

"I know what you're going to say. You're going to ask about my 'magic' and how it couldn't save your mother. I know you don't want to hear this, but my magic - alchemy it's called - isn't all powerful. It cannot perform miracles, despite its' power. I don't know how long she has left but I have kept her alive for long enough, so you can at least say goodbye."

The boy and his… sister? ( _They don't look alike_ ) looked horrified. Their mother looked healthier, like she had been healed to them.

"What do you mean you couldn't heal her? She looks okay! What couldn't you do‽" The Boy yelled at Ed, tears winking, in the corner of his eyes.

"She's our mum! Can't you do anything more‽" The Girl roared.

Ed shook his head. "I was able to heal her external wounds. Fix her broken bones and so on, but the real damage was done to her brain-" "Her what" "-Her brain. It's the organ in your head responsible for doing… for being you? Anyway, her's is so badly damaged, that fixing it would risk killing her at worst and making her lose her memories of you at best. If you want me to try and save her, it's your call, just be aware of the consequences."

Hannes, who Ed had completely forgot about until now, finally spoke up, as it turned out that he had been standing close by, while giving the children their space. "Whoa, Ed this isn't how you treat kids, you know. They've been through alot and now you drop this on them? What is the point?"

Ed ran his hands through his hair. "The point is that is not a choice I should make, this is their mother and they should be fully informed about her situation and if necessary, get a chance to say a proper goodbye! Besides, there were more Titans on the way and it's hard to fight with a woman strapped to your back!"

Hannes was about to shoot back a reply, when the woman began coughing violently. Immediately, Ed swung around to face her, pulling out a handkerchief from his pockets to cover her mouth. As he did so, he felt for the familiar sense of souls, waiting for the stone exit her body and sure enough, after a minute or two of coughing the stone was in the handkerchief, ready to be reabsorbed.

The woman, now awake, looked around her with bleary eyes and tried moving her arms and legs, though it was not easy for her. "Eren? Mikasa? You're okay! How did you get me here? Where is here?" She asked meekly, still trying to get her bearings. "What's going on?"

The two children rushed forward and embraced their mother, crying profusely. They didn't hold back the tears and they tried to explain to her, what her situation was, but through all the sobbing, even Ed had no idea what was being said. It quickly fell to Hannes to explain to the woman how bad a state she was in, though it wasn't a great explanation, it got the point across.

Still her reaction was telling. "Who are you? What do you mean I am close to death? What are Titans?" The woman tried to stand up, but her legs refused to move, though she had good control of her arms. "Why won't my legs move?"

The children ( _Eren and Mikasa? I thought Erin was a girl's name?_ ) let go of their mother in shock. They were about to speak, when Ed leant forwards. "Miss, if I may explain? You have sustained very traumatic injuries. I was able to heal your broken bones, but I can't fix memories, or your skills; like walking, digesting food and so on, not without a serious risk of making it worse."

No one moved, or spoke for some time. The woman's children were having a hard time processing everything they were being told, they were barely holding back the tears as they tried to come to terms with the fact that they might have to watch their mother die. For Ed, the Children and Hannes, it was like the world had disappeared, only the few square metres they were all standing on seemed to exist. Then ground started rumbling again and the sound of grinding gears filled the air.

"Hey, they're closing the gate!" Roared Hannes. "My mates are still out there, as well as any number of civilians! They can't do that!"  
Hannes took off at a sprint, leaving Ed alone with the woman and her children. Their gaze, following Hannes, could see that the Gate of Wall Maria, leading the main wall to Shiganshina, was closing. Ed, knew that things must be getting far worse in the city if the Gate was closing. He slipped an arm under the woman's legs and one around her back, hoisting her up and carrying her towards the ferry at a run.

"You two better follow me, let's get you on the barge!" Ed yelled. "Have you made a decision about whether you want me to try save your mum?"

The two children ran at equal pace with Ed, staring at his face in earnest. "Do what you can, she's our mother!" Snapped Eren.

Mikasa nodded in support. "She's the the only family we have! Save her!"

As the three made it to the Gangway to the Barge, Ed noticed a familiar face. Hermann was standing at the stern of his barge and deep in an argument with some of the garrison personnel. Ed couldn't hear them properly, but it was pretty obvious from all the hand waving and from all the people on the barge, the Hermann was refusing to take on more people.

'If you want me to do this, you have to be prepared to accept the chance that she might not make it ('we know!') and that she might not be the same, even if she does. ('We get it!') Just so you know.' Ed said, trying his best to be sympathetic and reassuring. Not that it was easy with a nearly dead woman, in the middle of a Titan attack. 'I'll get you on the barge, wait for me there!'

The two children began to protest but Ed silenced them, letting them sit with their mother and pushed through the swelling crowd towards Hermann and the soldiers he was arguing with.

'Hermann! Hermann!' Ed yelled at the top of his lungs and waved his arms, until Hermann acknowledged him. 'I have two kids and their mother with me! Can you spare room for them?'

Hermann threw his hands into the air, impatiently. 'Those three and no more! She's barely above the waterline as it is!'

Ed shouted his thanks back at Hermann as he turned on his heel, hurrying back to the Children. As soon as he reached them, he grabbed them by the hands and dragged them onto the ferry. They fought him every step of the way but Ed was strong enough to get them onto the ferry, without having to resort to more distasteful measures.

'You two! Stay here!' Ed snapped at them, taking out a piece of paper and writing something down on, using alchemy to stain the page. 'When you get inside Wall Rose, find this address. It's my house, you can stay with me. You're mother is going to need to be moved carefully and slowly, I will see to it!'

Eren and Mikasa tried to protest but Ed had shoved the paper into Eren's hands, then turned away and had rushed down the gangplank and was rushing back to the children's mother. As Ed forced his way through the crowd back to the now prone woman, Ed could hear a distant, rapid thumping, like a giant running and it was getting closer. Whatever it was, it was big and it was heading towards Wall Maira Proper, at great speed.

'Okay, Miss?' Ed said as he reached the children's mother. She groaned in response. 'I'm going to try and heal you, but there isn't much chance it'll work. Are you ready?'

The woman nodded, less with understanding and more in acknowledgement of being spoken to but Ed wasn't going to be picky, as he knew he needed to be precise in this "operation". Using his alchemy, he created a medical transmutation circle, then proceeded to pick up the woman. All the while, the running was getting closer and closer.

Placing the woman in the circle, Ed began the process of transmuting her body, to try and heal her. ' _Hell, I hope this works! I don't want those kids to be lose their mother. I know what that feels like… I think.'_ Ed was so focused on the transmutation, that world seemed to disappear around him, he was so focused on trying to encourage nerve growth in the woman's spine, he didn't realise the people around him were starting to panic and shove their way onto the over-full barges and how the soldiers were beginning to rush towards the Gate entrance, preparing to defend it.

What snapped Ed out of his focus, was the bright flash of light that signified failing of the medical transmutation. Ed was thrown back about a metre and scrambled forward. The woman was a mess, blood trickled from her open mouth, nose and ears. Her auburn hair was splayed out beneath her, messy and slowly being mixed with blood, from a gaping wound that slowly opened up in her head. It was clear that her injuries were far worse than first anticipated and Ed was not going to let those kids see their mother's corpse like this. Thinking quickly, he threw himself between her and the ferries.

Turning slowly around, he could see the Hermann's ferry was slowly pulling away, the motors, that attached it to the guidance cables; that would lead it into the safety of Wall Rose, were turning as fast as they could. He could also see, looking over the stern of the ferry, were the two children still close enough to see what was going on but not close enough to see it in detail, as Ed could only partially see their faces. Not wanting to break their hearts, Ed threw out his hand, giving a thumbs up and waving, in a way he hoped looked encouraging and positive. When saw them wave back and jump up-and-down, hugging, Ed new he'd fooled them and immediately, he felt guilty for doing so. Though the guilt wasn't the normal guilt, that one would feel when they tell a blatant lie, they have no moral connection to, it felt like he was breaking a deep personal oath, like he was a hypocrite, doing something he'd never do because it was done to him… but he couldn't remember why.

Though Ed as slowly faded in and out of reality, pondering his lie and trying to find a way to make it to the Gate of Wall Maria leading to Shiganshina, Ed finally acknowledged the sheer panic that filled the people around him. There were mothers and their children, huddled together at the docks, some were staring at Ed, as they had never seen alchemy before and some were just staring at the departed ferries, waiting for them to return; while their husbands and fathers argued with Garrison Troops about… ' _What were they arguing about?'_ Ed thought to himself, pushing his way towards a prominent group of men arguing with Garrison Troops, keeping in mind that the children might still be watching, did his best, to hide the fact that their mother had died.

'Please sirs, you need to take your families and make your way to Wall Rose on foot!' snapped an athletic looking Garrison Officer. Her hair was short and silver and she had half-moon glasses on her face, her arms were crossed and she had a look of barely concealed panic in her eyes.

'We're not going anywhere, until those ferries get back! Are you telling us that the Garrison can't do its' job properly!'

The Garrison Officer had a response on her lips and was just ready to speak, when the cannons on top of Wall Maria opened-up, in a powerful volley of fire, down into Shiganshina. Garrison Troops on the wall were yelling down to the people on the ground, though Ed couldn't hear what they were yelling, it must have been scary because people near the gate were fleeing from it in every direction.

Mere seconds later Ed watched, helplessly, as the Main Gate of wall Maria exploded just like the Gate to Shiganshina did. Though what came barging through the Gate was not the Colossal Titan, but a 15 metre tall Titan covered in what looked like armour plates. It blasted through the Gate, sending debris everywhere and again, knocking Ed off his feet. Clambering to his feet seconds later, Ed surveyed the damage done: boulders were strewn all over the ground, getting more sparse the further away from the gate they were, buildings were toppled; some by the boulders and others by the sheer force of the shock-wave and the bodies… lots of bodies.

Survivors scrambled over to where their loved-ones lay trying to get them to move, while the Garrison turned everything they had on this new threat. Not that it mattered, as with the Gate open, Titans could pour through the breach and begin their merciless assault on the survivors.

Ed turned to look at the dead woman ( _Clara?_ ) one last time, only to find a boulder the size of baby's cot where she lay, with a blood red smear being all that remained of her. Ed didn't have a chance to look for Eren and Mikasa, as the thumping of Titan feet brought him back to reality. Stepping forward, Ed roared in anger, anger at the death of a mother, anger at lying, anger at the deaths of so many innocent, blindly in his rage, he ran.

He ran right into the mess of Titans and lost control, he rushed at the armoured Titan fiercely using his flames and the elements around him to try and kill this monster, but nothing seemed to work. It dodged his flames, broke his stone spires and lances, it even booted Ed across what used to be a market square. Ed even attacked it with his Philosopher's Stone, without asking permission first, to no avail. The Red Alchemy streamed across the sky, detonating right in front of Ed's armoured foe, but still it stood, glaring with dead yellow eyes. Then with no warning, like the Colossal Titan from earlier, it vanished in a cloud of steam and smoke.

Ed screamed out again, furious at the denial of combat, enraged by his enemy's hasty retreat, but surrounded by Titans, Ed had no choice but to keep fighting. Will all the power of traditional alchemy he could muster, Ed attacked, thinking nothing of his own safety; only of a new found desire to kill.

After several frenzied minutes, Ed found himself standing on top of Wall Maria roaring himself hoarse at the Titans. He wasn't saying anything, just screaming like some wild beast, trapped in a cage. Realising this, Ed closed his mouth immediately and took stock of his situation. He was atop the 50 metre Wall Maria, the ground where he was standing before was full of Titans, chasing people, fighting Garrison Troops, or struggling to get through (or off) the myriad of spikes, ditches, pillars and other obstacles Ed had made. There were also 6 Garrison Troops standing nearby to Ed, regarding him with weary eyes.

"Uhh, you there! Blondy!" snapped a fit looking young man, nursing a small arm wound. "Who-who are you? What were you just doing?"

Ed glowered at him. "Doesn't matter, who I am or what I can do! This Gate is breached and we need to get out of here!" Ed marched at the Soldier, his golden eyes blazing. As soon as the man was in reach, Ed clapped his hands and grabbed the Soldier's arm. Blue lightning crackled through it and the Soldier yanked his arm back in shock, only to find his arm healed.

"You're right, we must evacuate as many civilians as we can and get out of here!" The Soldier said, clearly startled at Ed's brazen displays of alchemy.

Ed nodded and turn to face the Titans, now 50 metres below him. "Quick question: how did I get up here and how do I get down?"


End file.
